Nonlinear synchronization assessment between atrial and ventricular activations series from the surface ECG in atrial fibrillation

The Relevance of Heart Rate Fluctuation When Evaluating Atrial Substrate Electrical Features in Catheter Ablation of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Coronary sinus (CS) catheterization is critical during catheter ablation (CA) of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the association of CS electrical activity with atrial substrate modification has been barely investigated and mostly limited to analyses during AF. In sinus rhythm (SR), atrial substrate modification is principally assessed at a global level through P-wave analysis. Cross-correlating CS electrograms (EGMs) and P-waves’ features could potentiate the understanding of AF mechanisms. Five-minute surface lead II and bipolar CS recordings before, during, and after CA were acquired from 40 paroxysmal AF patients. Features related to duration, amplitude, and heart-rate variability of atrial activations were evaluated. Heart-rate adjustment (HRA) was applied. Correlations between each P-wave and CS local activation wave (LAW) feature were computed with cross-quadratic sample entropy (CQSE), Pearson correlation (PC), and linear regression (LR) with 10-fold cross-validation. The effect of CA between different ablation steps was compared with PC. Linear correlations: poor to mediocre before HRA for analysis at each P-wave/LAW (PC: max. +18.36%, p = 0.0017, LR: max. +5.33%, p = 0.0002) and comparison between two ablation steps (max. +54.07%, p = 0.0205). HRA significantly enhanced these relationships, especially in duration (P-wave/LAW: +43.82% to +69.91%, p < 0.0001 for PC and +18.97% to +47.25%, p < 0.0001 for LR, CA effect: +53.90% to +85.72%, p < 0.0210). CQSE reported negligent correlations (0.6−1.2). Direct analysis of CS features is unreliable to evaluate atrial substrate modification due to CA. HRA substantially solves this problem, potentiating correlation with P-wave features. Hence, its application is highly recommended.

Dynamics of AV coupling during human atrial fibrillation: role of atrial rate

The causal relationship between atrial and ventricular activities during human atrial fibrillation (AF) is poorly understood. This study analyzed the effects of an increase in atrial rate on the link between atrial and ventricular activities during AF. Atrial and ventricular time series were determined in 14 patients during the spontaneous acceleration of the atrial rhythm at AF onset. The dynamic relationship between atrial and ventricular activities was quantified in terms of atrioventricular (AV) coupling by AV synchrogram analysis. The technique identified n: m coupling patterns ( n atrial beats in m ventricular cycles), quantifying their percentage, maximal length, and conduction ratio (= m/ n). Simulations with a difference-equation AV model were performed to correlate the observed dynamics to specific atrial/nodal properties. The atrial rate increase significantly affected AV coupling and ventricular response during AF. The shortening of atrial intervals from 185 ± 32 to 165 ± 24 ms ( P < 0.001) determined transitions toward AV patterns with progressively decreasing m/ n ratios (from conduction ratio = 0.34 ± 0.09 to 0.29 ± 0.08, P < 0.01), lower occurrence (from percentage of coupled beats = 27.1 ± 8.0 to 21.8 ± 6.9%, P < 0.05), and higher instability (from maximal length = 3.9 ± 1.5 to 2.8 ± 0.7 s, P < 0.01). Advanced levels of AV block and coupling instability at higher atrial rates were associated with increased ventricular interval variability (from 123 ± 52 to 133 ± 55 ms, P < 0.05). AV pattern transitions and coupling instability in patients were predicted, assuming the filtering of high-rate irregular atrial beats by the slow recovery of nodal excitability. These results support the role of atrial rate in determining AV coupling and ventricular response and may have implications for rate control in AF.